Ashes From Nothing
by AshKetchumForever
Summary: A collab fic that Xerxes Glace Hydro and I thought of one day. Ash starts changing while Rai is around and it's not for the better.


**Hello there readers! Xerxes Glace Hydro and I decided one day to do a collaboration fanfic. We each divided the story into little chunks, and wrote it like that. Our writing styles are fairly different, so it will be a bit obvious as to who wrote which part. Please just bare with us and enjoy.**

**We don't own Pokemon.**

**Here's 'Ashes From Nothing'**

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Ash Ketchum and Rai Koura were walking from a town that they just stopped in to get supplies.

As they were walking, Rai noticed that Ash seemed to have changed personality-wise slightly along with his eyes slightly.

"Ash, are you okay? You don't look like yourself today." asked Rai, making sure that his friend and secret love was okay.

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's probably nothing." replied Ash, looking over at Rai with a smile on his face before walking ahead a little ways.

"_I don't believe him for one second. I better keep my eyes on him in case something bad happens to him."_ thought Rai, looking at Ash's back before catching up with him.

As soon as Rai finished thinking that, a hand came out of the sky and grabbed Pikachu right off Ash's shoulder.

"Hey!" yelled Ash, looking up to see what was going on.

"It's Team Rocket!" said Rai, seeing the Meowth-shaped balloon flying overhead.

"Ya darn right it's us!" said Meowth, smiling down at the two.

"And we finally go Pikachu!" said James and Jessie in unison while holding Pikachu.

"Off we go to the Boss!" said all three of them in unison as they were leaving to give Pikachu to the Boss.

Rai noticed something in Ash changed when they heard Team Rocket say that.

Ash had a malevolent aura around him and he took off into the air and pierced the Meowth balloon.

Rai was surprised that Ash could do that and watched in terror as Team Rocket came crashing to the ground with Pikachu rolling away from them.

"**How dare you take Pikachu! Now you will face my wrath!**" said Ash in a malevolent voice as he came at them with Quick Attack speed.

Rai had picked up Pikachu and they both watched in horror as Ash beat Team Rocket up pretty bad that they both thought that Ash broke a couple of bones in their bodies with the kind of punches that he was throwing at them.

They were on the verge of dying when Ash finally stopped his assault on them.

When Ash was done, the malevolent aura went away and Ash was back to normal and they went on their way again.

Ash was in front of Rai as Rai was thinking about something that involved Ash.

"_Now I know that there is something wrong with Ash. I know that he wouldn't do that. I need to know what's causing this. I need to confront him soon."_ thought Rai while he was looking at Ash.

As the duo reached Pallet Town, Ash allowed Pikachu to go off an play with the other pokemon.

Rai tapped his alter-ego's shoulder, seeing as they were out of earshot of the others, and hoped to make some sense out of this whole situation.

"Ash, I know something's wrong, and I want to know what it is." Rai said, placing his hands on Ash's shoulders. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"Rai, I already told you it's nothing." The raven-haired boy replied, brushing his friend's hands away.

"You know I don't believe that." The alter-ego murmured. Ash scowled.

"Look, I'm fine, okay?!" He growled, shoving Rai away from him. "if there's something wrong with anyone, it's you!"

"Ash-" The trainer had already stormed off before Rai could finish. He sighed.

'There's something different about him, that's for sure.' The dark thought. 'His aura isn't the one I usually sense when I'm around him. It seems much, much darker than usual.' Rai darted after Ash, in hopes of getting better answers. 'Oh Ash, what's wrong with you…?"

As Rai follows Ash, the dark found himself heading towards an open field.

The dark stopped when he saw the raven-haired boy fall to the ground while clutching his chest.

As the raven-haired boy fell to the ground, Rai could feel an unsettling aura start to emit from his friend.

Rai then hides in a bush so that his friend wouldn't see him when something bad happened and attacked him.

Before long, the raven-haired boy let out a blood-curdling scream as he transformed into the beast that he had been hiding from everyone.

"Ash…No…" said Rai, looking at what his friend had transformed into and was scared at what his friend might do next.

Just then, Ash flew away using his newly added wings.

The dark followed his friend to wherever he was going until Rai realized where they were going.

"_He's going back to the town that we just came from! I got to stop him before he does something!"_ thought Rai, running to catch up to his friend.

When the dark arrived at the town, he found his friend destroying the town, but there was something off about the destruction of the town.

Instead of the usual red flames of fire, there are ebony flames of fire and soon, they start to spread around the whole town.

Rai sees this and jumps into the circle of ebony flames of fire without the raven-haired boy noticing at all.

The dark blinked away unwanted tears, then blessed himself with the relief of a small breath. Considering his options slowly and carefully, he called out his partner's name and prepared for the worst.

Ash turned toward his friend as his voice caught his ear, black wings enshrouding the lower portion of his body. Scarlet diamonds replaced the boy's pupils, and pointed fangs glinted in the firelight. The alter-ego made note of his claws as well. Rai, although quite shaken by his friend's mere stare, gave an inward sigh.

'At least he's still partially human.' He thought. 'There's nothing different about him otherwise.'

"Hello, dear Rai." Ash whispered, malice rolling off of each word. The dark had a small whimper caught in his throat, but his friend was already aware of his fear.

Ash flies over to Rai, who takes a few steps back, and lands right in front of him.

"What do you think, dear Rai?" asked Ash, motioning to the destroyed town around them.

"Ash, I hate this. This isn't something that you would do. What's gotten into you?" asked Rai, wishing that the raven-haired boy would go back to normal.

"Can't you see, Rai? I've grown stronger and that's what the voice inside my head was telling me to do. Now. Are you ready to fight me?" asked Ash, wanting the dark to fight him to see just how strong he has gotten.

Tears burned the alter-ego's cheeks as emotions composed of agony and despair uttered their hellish melody inside of his artificial heart. It was apparent to him that the creature that had once been his friend had finally snapped. Drying his eyes, the boy choked on his breath as he spoke.

"I…..I don't want to fight you….." Rai squeaked. "How could I…?" His voice returned. "How could you do this, Ash? Why would you think I would want something so horrid? I never asked for this, did I?"

"You say this…after all I've done for you…" The glow in Ash's eyes faded, and his wings nearly fell. He stepped back and muttered a series of incoherent words. As he did so, a peculiar luminescent pattern engraved itself on the building rooftop. A ticking noise made itself known when he finished. "I suppose I have no other choice than to destroy you."

"Ash, I don't want to fight you! I can't allow you to get hurt!"

The demon laughed – no screeched – as he seized his former partner's throat. "That's a shame, dear Rai, as I'm afraid I cannot say the same for myself!"

Rai could only shudder at the frigid collar around his neck. "Think about what you're doing, Ash! Think about what your father would say!"

"Leave him out of this!" Ash hissed. "he turned me into this thing! He made me more inhuman then even himself!"

"You brought this upon yourself! If you wanted to be human, then you would have killed me when you first had the chance! If you didn't like what your heart created, then you should have destroyed it, just like you did with Blade!"

Blade, oh, poor Blade Atenra. May death have been forgiving on whatever of his essence had remained after his violent passing. Not long before Rai's present encounter with his partner, the alter-ego had discovered the tattered remains of the swordsman at his feet prior to him sleeping that night. Having been unable to sense even a shred of his soul, Rai attempted to think of an explanation for it until he found that Ash had devoured both it and most of Blade's body only hours ago. When the alter-ego confronted him about the matter, the boy only replied, "What took place between Blade and myself is of no concern to you, Rai. Although I must admit, he tasted wonderful; if only I could have such a filling meal more often…" Not a word had been spoken about it since, until this very day.

Ash huffed. "If you can't accept me for what I've become, then to Hell with you!"

The raven-haired boy's clawed fingers dug into Rai's throat hard, causing blood to seep out the places where the fingers were.

After closing his eyes, the dark finally manages to open his eyes again despite the pain and saw a look of pure insanity in Ash's eyes before attempting to escape the hold.

When Ash saw this, his grip grew tighter and tighter, but a sudden pain in his stomach causes him to let go of the dark's throat.

When this happens, Rai doubles over to catch some much needed oxygen into his lungs and while he's doing that, he watches as Ash is on the ground from where the dark his him hard in the stomach.

"I told you…..I didn't want to fight….." Rai rasped, "but I suppose I don't have much of a choice."

Ash smirked and emitted something of a chuckle. "Yes, I believe that is correct." He took hold of the pendant around Rai's neck and yanked him closer. "You had no choice in the first place."

A flurry of dark silver feathers danced around the alter-ego in a whirlwind of chaos as his lover's wings ripped his chest open for any and all to see. A shower of crimson red sprayed the two under the hideously starry sky. The searing sensation coursing theough Rai's body was enough to kill the innocence that was left inside his mechanical heart; any feeling of sympathy or compassion was lost in the bloody rain drenching them both. The madness of it all, Rai knew, was caused by the entity that had surfaced inside of Ash. His partner had allowed it to take control of his very being. Rai oh so desperately wanted it to disappear. He wanted it dead. Yet he knew there was nothing he could do at this point.

So he cried out in the horrific agony consuming whatever good was left of him. It was all he could manage. He just barely caught a glimpse of the malevolent grin on Ash's face.

The raven-haired boy then ripped his wings out of the alter-ego's chest, spewing blood all over the two of them.

Rai fell to his knees on the ground with his right hand clutching his chest and his left hand helped support him from falling onto the ground.

When Ash wasn't looking, the dark-haired alter-ego grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it into the raven-haired boy's eyes, causing him to go blind for a couple of minutes.

The dark starts to get up and slowly makes his way over to the clock to stop it somehow.

"I'm gonna get you yet, Rai!" screamed Ash, trying to get the dust out of his eyes.

'His aura felt rather strange ever since that clock pattern appeared on the ground.' Rai thought to himself. 'So, it's most likely is the major weak point…'

The alter-ego examined the pattern in what little moments he had. He growled in frustration after so long.

'It's as if it's merely light! I can't even touch it! Oh, what now?'

The dark froze as his ears detected footsteps striding up behind him. Before he had time to react, Ash was in front of him, kneeling to his level and stroking Rai's hair with his claws.

"Dear Rai," the raven whispered, "you will be mine."

In a pathetic attempt to strike his lover, Rai sank his own claws into Ash's throat. The demon caught his wrists and brought his knee to Rai's stomach as he stood. The dark collapsed onto the ground, but was lifted into a sitting position soon after. Ash licked his former partner's neck with delight and ever so swiftly tore out his beating heart. The alter-ego could only clear his throat of lingering blood, as he was far too weak to even scream.

"I told you that you would be mine. Only now, your heart belongs to me." said Ash, showing Rai his heart before he swallows it.

The alter-ego slowly looks up at the raven-haired boy while losing consciousness and says, "You're a monster, Ash. I could never love you."

Ash knelt down next to Rai and pulled him into an embrace. "Believe me," he whispered, "I know."

The raven stood and turned, laughing to himself as he began to walk away. A metallic feather dropped to the floor, the fire reflecting off of the steel surface. The dark weakly wrapped his fingers around it and stabbed it into the middle of the glowing clock. The pattern shattered as scarlet fluid ran down Rai's cheek.

"I had loved you, Ash." He rasped. "Now, I wish you hadn't loved me back….."

Ash soon collapsed, clutching his heart.

His heart felt like it was going to rip in half with all of the pain that he was in.

Actually, that's what happened.

Ash screamed for a second before blood started to drip out of his mouth.

He stood for one more moment before falling to the ground, but he was already dead by the time his body hit it.

The roof of the building collapsed as Rai blinked away tears. The world around him faded away, and his breathing came to a permanent halt. The glow of the fire slowly died, the rain washing debris away. The destroyed city was, at last, quiet.

A long figure stood beneath the trees, an umbrella over his head. Scarlet diamond pupils shone from underneath his chestnut hair. His stone gray eyes showed no emotion as he examined the wreckage from afar, and chuckled to himself.

"Perhaps it's for the best," The figure said. "that they died so soon." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a single half of a pokeball, and tossed it toward the city as far as he could.

"At least they may reign in Hell together." Gary muttered as he turned and walked away.

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**Hope you enjoyed this one shot collab fic between Xerxes Glace Hydro and I. Check out my new fic, Love Can Change Lives. See ya later!**

**AshKetchumForever-Action first-Think later!**


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